Bloody hell… It’s took me 2 years to finally start reading this book. Part of the reason it’s took me so long to get round to it is because of all of the talk that was going on about Sarah J. Maas and I was just put off… But I decided that I really wanted to read the books and so I just picked it up, with average expectations, and went on this amazing journey with some brilliant characters…

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Can we just take a moment to revel in the fact that I have finally gotten round to reading this book? After having this website for nearly 2 years, for being part of the book tube community for a year, and for loving books for every second of my life… You would have thought that I would have read this sooner, but alas, that wasn’t the case. The hype surrounding this series just completely put me off reading it. But I’ve decided that 2018 is going to be the year where I get around to reading all of the hyped series and standalones (yes, that’s including Illuminae and the Grisha Trilogy).

“Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

Anyway, onto the actual book. This was wwaaaaayyy better than I was expecting. It did have remnants of other YA books. The love triangle reminded me of Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson, and the challenges reminded me of Frostblood by Elly Blake. Nevertheless, when aren’t you going to find similarities between books? Inspiration has to come from somewhere, right? I loved every single one of the characters in Throne of Glass. Celaena was this badass, sassy, arrogant, honest, book-obsessed character that I love with my whole heart. Also, she reminds me of Daenerys from Game of Thrones… Is it just me that thinks this?

I JUST LOVE HOW MUCH BOOK APPRECIATION THERE IS WITHIN THIS NOVEL! Celaena and Prince Dorian are avid book readers/lovers and all I want in life is to start a book club with them…

Talking about Dorian… I love his banter and his relationship with Celaena. His so honest with her, yet always manages to cheer her up and take her mind off of the fact that she could die any day. I know that fans of this series have strong opinions on which ‘team’ there on: Chaol or Dorian. And honestly? I have no idea which team I’m on. I love both of the characters, but I do think that I’m leaning more towards Dorian and his playful attitude. Chaol was just way too serious and even though he really did try and have a laugh with Celaena, he just held himself back and I just found it infuriating.

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name’s Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I’d still beat you, no matter what you call me.”

― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

One of the other characters that I have much love for is Nehemia. I HAVE NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR THIS WOMAN AND I JUST WANT TO MARRY HER. SHE IS SO PRECIOUS AND BADASS AND LOYAL AND OH . MY . GOD. I can’t wait to read more about her in the second book because I am genuinely in love with her. Plus… I think she’s the only person of colour in this book (?). If she isn’t, please could someone correct me? But yeah, I really cannot wait to read more of Nehemia in Crown of Midnight.

Like I said before, the plot is brilliant and even though it has remnants of other YA fantasy novels, it was just so good and it kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole time. It gripped me from the very first page right up until the very last.

Once I have finished this review, I’m going to go to bed, open up Crown of Midnight and just start reading because I have a feeling that I’m going to want to binge-read this series.